Kevin Maffioli Loving Life At Christina Lake Golf Club
Head Pro And GM At Christina Lake, Kevin Maffioli - Image Credit Brad Ziemer/BC Golf
By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf
CHRISTINA LAKE — Life for many club pros can be a transitory existence that involves bouncing from one course to the next.
Kevin Maffioli considers himself one of the lucky ones. He’s been at Christina Lake Golf Club for 27 years and counting. He’s had opportunities — good ones — to move on to greener pastures, but chosen to stay put.
Maffioli, the club’s head professional and general manager, lists multiple reasons why he has never been tempted to leave Christina Lake. “It’s a beautiful golf course and the membership is fantastic,” he says in an interview.
“I love the area, I am from a small town (Fernie), the lake is really nice, the rivers are great. It’s a great outdoor place to be. It’s a slower pace, you are not in the city, it’s more relaxed.
“So for me, it’s almost like a retirement job and it’s been a retirement job because the membership is so good. The people who come here are very regular. It’s a great clientele. Nobody comes golfing to have a bad time. You might not have the best game in the world, but they all come here because they love playing golf. So I am dealing with people who want to be here.”
It’s clear that Maffioli loves his members. The feeling seems to be mutual. Brian Dance, a recently retired CBC News announcer, now lives part-time in Christina Lake and he and his wife Marilyn are longtime members at the club. “The members treasure Kevin because he always has time to discuss any issue that they have,” Dance says.
“If you want to order equipment he looks into it and gives you an excellent price. He is looking out for the membership all the time, working on ways to keep it affordable and just be a beautiful place to play golf.”
Maffioli started his golf industry career early. He was 12 years old when he began working in the back shop at Fernie Golf Course. He worked his way up the ranks there, before joining Christina Lake in 1997 as head professional. Three years later he succeeded Carl Yelland as general manager.
His philosophy is quite simple. Work as hard as you can for your membership and listen to them. “I just try my best for them every day and make sure they are happy and are having a great golf experience and they are feeling like they are getting value for their membership,” he says.
Imaged Courtesy Christina Lake GC/YouTube
Maffioli also has a loyal following of staff members, who return in large numbers each spring after the winter break. Christina Lake typically opens in late March and closes in early November. “You’d think with a seasonal operation it would be more transient, but it’s not,” says Maffioli, whose teenaged daughter and son both work part-time at the golf course.
“We regularly retain 90-plus percent of our employees each year, so it makes it more of a great atmosphere. Everybody is pulling in the right direction.”
Christina Lake opened in 1962 as a nine-hole course and in 1986 Les Furber added a back nine and changed the existing ninth hole. It’s a busy place, especially in the summer. “We do like 16,000 players in 60 days,” Maffioli says. “We open at 5:05 am and we are fully booked the rest of the day.”
Visually, the course is beautiful and it’s a fun and fair track to play. “I think it’s good for all levels, whether you are a beginner or whether you’re playing in the B.C. Amateur, which we hosted last year,” Maffioli says. “I still play pretty good golf and I never get bored with it. I played the front nine last night. I love playing the golf course. It challenges you no matter what your level is, but it’s fun and fair. It’s hard to lose golf balls, the pace of play is good and it’s very walkable.”
The club has around 500 members who account for about 60 per cent of the play. Christina Lake averages around 35,000 rounds a year, but peaked at 42,000 in 2021 after the Covid-19 pandemic brought a resurgence to the game. This year is off to a great start and Maffioli thinks they may do 38,000 rounds.
His pro shop, which is crammed with the latest golf clubs, shoes and apparel, looks like a mini Golf Town. Maffioli is proud of the fact that many of the club’s members choose to do their golf shopping in the Christina Lake shop. “Well, people want to deal with someone in the golf business when they buy, “ he says.
“I do have a lot of personal connections with membership, but also people who come here to golf and are from out of town. They want to support the club and support myself. I want to be able to provide them with good service and products. You don’t feel like you are a pro shop if you’re not doing lessons and selling clubs and fitting people and providing them with that type of service. We are old school in some degree in that sense.”
The club also plays host to some big amateur tourneys. The Christina Lake Men’s Open is a fixture in late June that draws 248 players and has a waiting list. There’s also a Christina lake Senior Men’s Open in late September that draws 180 players. And yes, it has a wait list.
Maffioli has now started an annual Masters tournament at the end of April for players aged 65 and older. “This is the second year running it and both years we have filled it with 150 players,” he says.
Maffioli got approval from his board to open a RV park next to the club that has proven to be a great investment.
Like many club pros before him, Maffioli is an avid curler during the winter. He’s a member of a Kimberley-based rink that won the B.C. senior men’s championships in 2021 and played in the nationals. “We went to Sault Ste. Marie for the Canadian Senior Men’s and made the playoffs and lost to Ontario in the semi-final,” he says.
Under his stewardship, Christina Lake has regularly played host to British Columbia Golf championship events. “We have been lucky enough to hold every single B.C. Golf event in the last 20 years, so we’ve got to see so many great players,” Maffioli says.
“What B.C. Golf brings here is a tremendous amount of exposure for our golf club. They do such a great job running their events. I just love having them here.”
Almost as much as he loves his job.
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